Asia petchem stocks fall as Wall street plunges

06 February 2008 02:59[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Asia petrochemical stocks fell on Wednesday morning, following a previous day plunge on Wall Street as investors saw the contraction of the US service sector as a sign that the world’s largest economy is sinking into recession.

"The [Malaysian stock market] has been fairly resilient considering what happened in the US. But this could be because most people are not around due to the Chinese New Year. The local market is quiet," said Chris Eng, an analyst with OSK Securities.

Markets in China, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand are closed for holidays today, while Hong Kong and Singapore will shut after morning trading.

Dow Jones Industrials was down 2.93% on Tuesday, its biggest drop in almost a year after the Institute for Supply Management’s US non- manufacturing index fell in January below the 50 threshold of growth.

The Standard and Poor's 500 Index had its biggest 3.2% decline in almost a year.